First Ascent : First ascent on August 22, 1909, by Percy Hagerman and Harold Clark.

Fast Facts About Capitol Peak

Capitol Peak, at 14,137 feet (4,309 rhythms) high pitched, is the thirty second highest elevation in Colorado and one of its 54 (or is it 55 ?) Fourteeners in the commonwealth.

Capitol Peak has 1,730 feet (527 rhythms) of standing, constituting it the 107 th more prominent elevation in Colorado.

Located In Maroon Bells Snowmass Wilderness Area

Capitol Peak is currently in the countries of the western feature of the Elk Mountains in the pristine 181,117 acre Maroon Bels Snowmas Wilderness Area west of Aspen. Besides Capitol Peak, the wilderness vicinity boasts five other Fourteeners Castle Peak, Pyramid Peak, Maroon Bells (North and South Maroon Peaks), and Snowmass Mountain. The vicinity also includes over 100 miles of highways and nine surpass over 12,000 feet high pitched.

Named By The Hayden Survey

Capitol Peak was worded in 1874 by members of the Hayden Survey for its affinity of the United States Capitol Building in Washington D.C. Expedition member Henry Gannett said the stately peak’s “prism shaped treetop and hasty skin deeps forbid access” so they didn’t attempt to sink it. Capitol and neighboring Snowmass Mountain were sometimes announced “The Twins” as wel as Capitol Peak and White House Peak.

1909 : First Recorded Ascent Of Capitol Peak

The firstly entered ascending of Capitol Peak was by innovator climbers Percy Hagerman from Colorado Spring and Aspen and Harold Clark, a lawyer from Aspen, on August 22 in 1909. The duet climbed the mountain by what is now the standard roadway up Capitol, includes the famed Cutting edge, an disclosed bank that is usually swept with legs traversing the leading edge and rumps securely seeded atop it.

Hagerman and Clark also climbed all the other major heydays in the Elk Range at that time, includes the first known ascents of Pyramid Peak and North Maroon Peak as well as Capitol. The spouses lavished the aged Hayden Survey report from 1873 and 1874 as their rise guidebook. Hagerman Peak, a beautiful 13,841 -foot elevation near Snowmass Mountain, is worded for Percy Hagerman, while 13,570 foot Clarks Peak near Capitol Peak is worded for Harold Clark.

Hagerman Describes The Knife Edge

Hagerman afterwards wrote about the ascending and described the Cutting edge on Capitol Peak : “There wasnt” predicaments until the combing of the bank is contacted two hours from the top. From this stage on, the track is on or near the combing of the bank and the climbing arduous. There are one preferably shocking chip of about forty paw where the bank is so hasty that one must get astride of it and move along with mitts and knees. The lowering on the north feature here is something like 1,500 feet, not straight but appallingly steep and smooth. Our roadway was doubtless the happiest. As far as we are in a position speak no other party has ever been on Capitol Peak. There was no proof on the summit of any previous ascending, and the surface was reputed to be unclimbable by the ranchmen living in its home. This mention comes from a record announced Observes on Mountaineering in the Elk Mountain of Colorado, 1908-1910 by Percy Hagerman.

Most Difficult Colorado Fourtener

Capitol Peak is generally considered the most difficult of Colorado’s Fourteeners or 14,000 -foot mountains with lots of cliff scrambling, loose cliff, steep granite, and demonstrating. The nauseating Cutting edge bank range between K2 and Capitol Peak’s discussion is not simply induces climbers with its perfection and picture but also ten strikes dread into apprentice mountaineers.

Accidents And Deaths On Capitol Peak

A fall on parts of the Capitol Peak ascending, includes the Cutting edge, will result in serious injury or death. At least seven climbers have died on Capitol Peak. The first was on July 25, 1957 when James Heckert lost authority of a glissade and humiliated into stones. On August 9, 1992, 55 year old Ronald Palmer fell over 1,000 feet away the West Face after toppling off the Cutting edge.

In 1994 and 1997 climbers were killed by lightning ten strikes on the mountain. On July 10, 2009, James Flowers, an Olympic coach from Colorado Springs, succumbed after a 500 foot fell off K2.

Normal Route Up Northheast Ridge

Capitol Peak is usually climbed by its Northeast Ridge route, also called the Cutting edge Route, which in paragon weather conditions is a Class 3 scramble with unimportant rock climbing. A way is usually not needed. In bad weather, nonetheless, Capitol’s regular roadway can be dangerous with slick cliff and extreme risk from lightning. The roadway was first climbed in wintertime in January of 1966.

Climbing Capitol’s North Face

Capitol Peak’s sheer 1,800 foot high North Face has long dazzled climbers. Its first ascending was stimulated in 1937 by Carl Blaurock, Elwyn Arps, and Harold Popham. The breast was first climbed in wintertime by Aspen alpinists Fritz Stammberger and Gordon Whitmer after 11 freezing hours of climbing on March 10, 1972. Stammberger, an Austrian extreme skier living in Aspen, erected the first ski parentages of nearby Pyramid Peak and the North Face of North Maroon Peak. He melted while solo climbing 25,260 foot Trich Mir in Pakistan in an attempt to ski the surface in 1975.

Capitol Peak Climbing Route Description

Want to sink Capitol Peak? Check out Climbing Capitol Peak : Route Description for Capitol Peak for a lengthy referred to in hearing the trailhead and climbing the mountain.